The present invention relates to rotary cutterbars and, more particularly, relates to a relationship between the cutterbar gear housing and gearing contained therein.
The cutterbar of a rotary disk mower includes an elongate flat housing containing a spur gear train which is lubricated by oil contained in the housing and drives the respective pinions of the individual cutting disk units. The pinion gears of the cutting units are each integral with a vertical shaft and form a pinion assembly mounted to a top wall of the housing by a bearing assembly.
These bearing assemblies may be caused to fail due to the cutting knives impacting rocks, low oil level in the cutterbar, seal damage, bearing fatigue, and other failure modes. When the pinion gear bearing fails, the pinion gear can tilt or drop down in the cutterbar housing allowing rolling elements of the bearing to fall into the housing. These loose pieces can get into the pinion and idler gears and cause major secondary damage to the gear teeth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,635, granted 7 May, 1991, discloses a rotary cutterbar of the above-described type.
According to the present invention, there is provided an improved rotary cutterbar constructed so as to overcome the above-noted drawback of secondary damage to the gears when a pinion shaft support bearing fails.
An object of the invention is to provide a support located for preventing any substantial downward movement of the pinion shaft permitted by a bearing failure.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a support, as set forth in the preceding object, which is formed as an integral part with the gear housing.
These and other objects will become apparent from a reading of the ensuing description together with the appended drawings.